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Recent Mayo Clinic Studies Help To Highlight The Value Of Cardio Testing

The Northern California Medical Associates Cardiovascular Services offers regular cardiovascular screening tests and is committed to educating patients about heart and stroke prevention to highlight the importance of a long-term commitment to heart healthy living.

A report out just last month gives a clear indicator that the single best option for avoiding cardiovascular disease is exercise and maintaining fitness. This study reveals that fitness level was the single most powerful predictor of death and survival, even after researchers accounted for variables such as diabetes and family history of premature death — a finding that emphasizes the significance of maintaining lifelong heart and lung fitness.

The Importance of Cardiovascular Screening

The key to preventing cardiovascular disease is no doubt heading off potential risk factors such as high blood pressure, high total cholesterol or high blood glucose. The best way to determine overall risk factors is through screening tests recommended by physicians as part of a regular doctor visit. Routine cardiovascular screening is important to detect risk factors in their earliest stages. Risk factors that are determined early enough help doctors treat the risk factor in patients prescribing lifestyle changes and medication where appropriate, before the risk has the opportunity to the development of cardiovascular disease.

What the Latest Studies Reveal

According to a recent study titled the ‘FIT Treadmill Score’ described in the March 2, 2015 issue of the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings that collected data from 58,000 heart stress tests performed by cardiologists who created a formula that estimates one’s risk of dying over a period of 10 years based on a person’s ability to exercise on a treadmill at an increasing speed and incline. Researchers analyzed information collected from more than 58,000 people between 18-96 years of age who underwent standard exercise stress tests over an 18 year period for evaluation of chest pain, shortness of breath, fainting or dizziness.

Study participants were tracked within each fitness level to determine how many died from any cause over the next decade. The results reveal that among people of the same age and gender, fitness level and peak heart rate reached during exercise was the ultimate indicators of death risk. Fitness level was the single most powerful predictor of death and survival, even after researchers accounted for other important variables such as diabetes and family history of premature death. Researchers believe that the finding underscores the significance of heart and lung fitness.

NCMA Cardiovascular Services

The American Heart Association stipulates that the most common risk factors for developing heart disease are high LDL cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, family history, diabetes and smoking. Women in the post-menopausal stage are also at higher risk as are men over the age of 45, and obesity for both men and women is considered to be a risk factor. Determining risk factors through routine screenings can help to save lives.

Cardiovascular screening results can also serve to put patients on alert as to the importance of diet modification and lead them to embrace the idea of adopting a routine of healthy physical activity — changes that can impact long term health for life. Most regular cardiovascular screening tests should begin as early as age 20, the frequency of follow-up then determined by the individual’s assessed level of risk.

From cardiac catheterization to open-heart surgery, from electrophysiology to rehabilitation and prevention, the Northern California Medical Associates (NCMA) Cardiovascular Services team is dedicated to delivering the highest quality care and the best patient results. NCMA Cardiovascular Services offers patients a comprehensive range of cardiac services, interventional procedures and comprehensive care to meet the needs of patients. All procedures are performed by highly skilled and trained registered sonographers, registered nuclear technologists, and/or registered nurses and medical assistants, under the support of physicians. To learn more visit our website.